An Austrian army Col. Markus Reisner, who is head of the Institute for Officer Training at the Theresian Military Academy, told Ukrinform that Ukraine needs the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system to defend itself against Russia’s Oreshnik hypersonic missile. From a military perspective, Reisner emphasized that both the quality and quantity of missile defense systems play a crucial role in determining the outcome of such confrontations. “In other words, the outcome of this duel depends largely on the number of interceptor missiles compared to the number of attacking missiles.” It is not clear whether Reisner is actually offering that the West simply needs to supply more pre-Oreshnik defensive missiles against offensive missiles travelling at over Mach-10 speeds.
He addressed a second issue: “The situation gets more complicated when the attacking missiles are equipped with multiple warheads, as is the case with the medium-range Oreshnik missile. In this case, it is important to intercept the carrier rocket at an early stage, before its warheads separate,” Reisner said. “In this context, it should be noted that Ukraine needs defense systems such as the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. The United States has these systems and has already delivered them to Israel,” he said.
